I> I just wondered about all this talk of slavery and no one mentioned the > Indentured servants in the North. (Maureen) > > Maureen, Off topic but something I found interesting..........Anytime a slaveholder had dangerous work to do around the plantation like digging a well, they hired an Irishman to do it instead of risking their valuable property. I guess the reason indentured servants are not mentioned is because that practice had ended by 1860. Also indentured servants voluntarily signed the papers which literally enslaved them for a certain amount of time. The black slaves were captured by their fellow Africans and sold into slavery against their will and held by force by the white owners on many occasions. There are many misconceptions about what was referred to as the South's "peculiar institution". I think it behooves every person interested in genealogy to read primary sources on this subject to get as accurate a picture as possible. In order to understand the times our ancestors lived in, it is vital that we learn about the burning issues of the day in order to place the people in context. To do otherwise is to be a revisionist......placing today's values and tenets on those of yesterday. Belle